National small business contest highlights library resources
Contact: Megan Humphrey
Campaign Manager
mhumphrey@ala.org
For Immediate Release
March 6, 2007
National small business contest highlights library resources
Libraries are places of opportunity. Perhaps no one knows that better than budding entrepreneurs, turning to the library for the resources and support to help get their businesses off the ground. Now, Woman’s Day magazine wants to tell this story to its millions of readers.
Through May 10th, Woman’s Day magazine, in conjunction with ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries, is collecting stories on how its readers have used the library to start their small businesses.
The magazine announced the initiative in its March 6 issue, where it asked its women readers aged 18 and over to submit their stories in 700 words or less about using resources and inspiration from the library to start their businesses. Stories can be sent to
womansday@ala.org. Four of the submissions will be featured the March 2008 issue of Woman’s Day.
Librarians can promote this initiative locally by downloading sample promotional materials from The Campaign for America's Libraries’ Web site at
www.ala.org/@yourlibrary. Sample tools include a press release, newsletter copy and Web button.
Also featured in the March issue are the four winners of the "how the library changed my life" initiative. The stories include a mother who turned to the library during a bout of post-partum depression, an Indonesian immigrant who used books from her childhood public library to learn English, a mother who used the library to help find her place in a new community, and a blind writer and teacher who uses the free books-on-tape service from the Library of Congress as an everyday escape.
Woman’s Day received nearly 2,000 essays in response to the call for entries, the most it has ever received in response to an initiative of this type. Later this spring, ALA will make many of these stories available through a searchable online database.
Woman’s Day is a Founding Partner of The Campaign for America’s Libraries, the ALA’s multi-year public awareness and advocacy campaign to promote the value of libraries and librarians in the 21st century. Other Founding Partners include Dollar General, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Campaign is made possible in part by ALA’s Library Champions, ALA’s highest level of corporate members, who support public awareness and advocacy for America’s Libraries.
